Kicking around

By Martin Boulton

January 11, 2008 — 11.00am

MELBOURNE footballer and passionate Melbourne Victory fan Brad Green enjoyed kick-to-kick of a different variety yesterday with Victory striker Archie Thompson at Telstra Dome. Green was a promising soccer player in his junior days and trialled with English team Manchester United as a 15-year-old before choosing to play Aussie rules. "I love the game — it's a great game, but I've moved on," he said yesterday. "There's certainly no regrets." Thompson presented Green with a Melbourne Victory shirt with the name "Green" printed on the back and received a Demons jumper in return. "It's great to meet Archie — he's a mad Melbourne supporter and gets along to watch the Dees play," Green said. "I get down and watch the Victory play; they're going all right over the last couple of weeks and hopefully they can make the finals."

Dogs defender leaps into Lake

SOME AFL footballers bring a new hairstyle or, in some cases, a new attitude to pre-season training, but Western Bulldogs full-back Brian Harris has gone one better. The club's 2007 Charlie Sutton medallist has returned from his summer break with a new name and, henceforth, shall be known as Brian Lake. You can be sure his teammates will relish the chance to pin a new nickname on the 25-year-old (Ricki has been popular, maybe Swan could catch on), but the new father has a better reason for parting with his old surname. "It's going to take a little while to get used to (and) obviously the boys have all been enjoying it, but the main reason was to keep my old man's name going," he said. He dropped his mother's maiden name in favour of his father's family name following the arrival of his own son, Cohen Ashton Lake, on December 23. Cohen, a half-brother to Bailee, weighed seven pounds 12 ounces (3.5 kilograms).

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"This is all very new to me; I've been a father for four years now with Bailee (his partner Shannon's seven-year-old son), but this whole newborn thing is different," he said. In between Christmas, changing nappies and changing names, there's been little time for the paperwork that comes with a new name. "I haven't changed my driver's licence or anything like that yet, so there's a lot to do … the hardest thing will be coming up with a new signature," he said. For historical purposes the club will list the defender as Brian Lake (Harris).

Cats relish Max factor

ONLY last year, Geelong's Max Rooke returned from a post-season break with a request to no longer be called Jarad, but Max, his middle name and the name of his grandfather. "No big deal," said a Geelong spokesman at the time — he just wanted a change. Last year's Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel could understand Max's choice, having asked the club and supporters two years earlier to refer to him as Jimmy, instead of his given name — James.

Barassi's kindness on cut

BRIAN Lake is not the first VFL/AFL player to give club administrators extra paperwork. Andrew Lukimitis played 34 games for Carlton in the early 1970s, but might be better known to supporters as Andrew Lukas, having changed his name by deed poll. The former wingman and defender warmed the bench during Carlton's victory in the 1972 grand final before leaving the club during the next season to join Fitzroy, where he played another 30 games. Sports commentator Tim Lane recalls hearing one-time Carlton coach Ron Barassi providing special comments during the 1972 grand final. "He (Barassi) had been out of footy for a year, but he'd coached Lukimitis and was still getting use to calling him Lukas," Lane said. "He made the comment at one stage that Lukas was a better player with his new name."

Headaches on Harris

LANE and other football broadcasters around the country will have to brush up on more than 100 new names as the countdown continues to season 2008. Scratching "Harris" from their minds and replacing it with "Lake" might cause early headaches, but Lane said he'd adapt. "In the rapid-fire heat of battle you just respond instinctively and there will be the odd 'Harris' slip through," he said. "We'll all be trying very hard and I reckon we'll have him covered by the end of the year."

Alley oops!

THE world of golf, like the gentleman's game of cricket, is not immune to the ugliness of racial overtones, however accidental. Tiger Woods brushed off a television commentator's recent quip that any golfer trying to test him might have to "lynch him in a back alley". The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman made the comment during coverage of the US PGA Tour season-opening event in Hawaii while joking with English analyst Nick Faldo. Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent, said the uproar regarding lynching and the first black golfer to win a major title was not a major concern. "This story is a non-issue," Steinberg said. "Tiger and Kelly are friends and Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly. Regardless of the choice of words used, we know unequivocally that there was no ill intent in her comments." Tilghman released a statement saying she meant no insult to Woods or offence to viewers. "I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologised directly to him. I also apologise to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments," she said. Her employer was less forgiving than Woods, suspending her for two weeks.

Back in business

NATHAN Outteridge had what a former Australian prime minister once called "the sweetest victory of all" after sharing the 49er World Championship title with sailing partner Ben Austin in Sorrento this week. While driving to Melbourne in 2005 for his first grade one 49er event, Outteridge was in a car accident and suffered spinal and facial injuries that prevented him from sailing for more than a year. After rebuilding his confidence and form, the 26-year-old now has a world title to his name. Outteridge and Austin, also 26, defeated defending world champs Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes from Britain and the Ukraine pair of Rodion Luka and George Leonchuk in 15-18 knot gusty winds. Morrison was the first to congratulate the Aussie pair. "They were a bit quicker than us in that breeze, there was nothing we could do about it," he said. "Nathan and Ben are the best 49er sailors in the world." The newly crowned Aussie sailing duo will take a week off before beginning their campaign for this year's Beijing Olympics. "Even while I was in hospital, all I thought about was getting back into sailing," Outteridge said. "When I did, Ben and I trained hard to get where we are today … we're very happy with our win, it's what we both worked for."